toonz

Little buggy demons!

I won't post a pic, because some people are squeemish. But click on this link for super close-ups of bug's eyes (and a cat and humans. Turns out human eyes are gross when closeup! Bug eyes are much prettier.)

Beautiful, but in some pics... it's like... they look like little demons come to git me!

A commercial break

I try to make a lot of my home cleaners these days, but when I buy them I try to buy either Method or Attitude products (depending which store I'm in.) President's Choice type brands have put out green cleaners now, but they still test on animals--whereas these companies don't.

Plus Attitude is a Quebec company (started by a couple young dudes), and the pricing is relatively low, AND you can find them in more mainstream stores (unlike the older companies that have been around for a long time, but are hard to find outside a health food store.)

And now with cuter than ever packaging!

So... I promotes. Here's the list of where they sell.

Look--they even have cute little messages on the site, like... "You don't have to disinfect everything you fools!"

Random Updates

1. One year ago today:

I was just getting over a sickitude, was finishing up my MA essay, and was still getting used to the weird dreams my headache drugs give me. I watched Milk recently, and when he turns around and sees the gun pointed at him, I kind of knew how he felt--because of that crazy dream where I died! (Great movie, by the way.)

2. Here's the facebook moods I was in a year ago. Hey... I stopped updating moods when facebook changed. Doh! I liked Moods. It was fun to look back on. I'll have to start again.



3. Just caught up on the blog I often read, of that woman who lives half in San Fran, and half in London. I used to call her That Woman Who's Living My Life! (because of the whole London thing) ... except for the fact that she doesn't have cats. Well now it seems she and her husband have separated and are divorcing. Sadness! She seemed very attached to him, but who knows what the reasons are. I think they were together a long time, so that's gotta be tough--though she seems to be doing well. She's learned how to pump her own gas for the first time in her life! Yay! It's almost an Anne Murray video.

So I really can't be jealous anymore. I don't mean her life is Terrible Because She Is Husbandless... I just mean, I'm glad I've got my cats and my particular husband. The Fernando, the Nombly, the Bones, the Halzebub: They all have to stay, I'm afraid. I couldn't even give them up for London, going out to restaurants and the theatre every night, and a fabulous house on the side of a gorgeous mountain outside San Fran.

4. Speaking of San Fran: I've decided not to go this summer. At the earliest Stepmommy & I will go in the fall, when the weather is supposed to be at its best. But we might go next year. Thing is, I haven't gotten back to plotting my San Fran novel and I don't want to go too early, then miss researching something I needed to know. So... no rush. My savings aren't going anywhere. Er um hopefully.

5. Watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist tonight--great little romance. I'm glad I married a man who loves romance movies. (Unfortunately for him he didn't marry someone who wants to watch endless episodes of Star Trek and Stargate. Better set him up with the newly single blog woman.)

Off to bed now. I've been trying to keep proper bedtime hours, even on my days off, but this weekend I failed. FAIL!

Haley the Wannabe Library Cat

Ever since I met her, Halzebub yells at me when I get out of the shower. I assume she learned in childhood that shower = leaving the house for 9 hours.

But I've confused her! Because I don't always shower before work, and sometimes I shower the night before. However... she has adapted.

If I shower at night, she doesn't give me the Song & Dance. But if I shower in the day, or if she sees me standing at my cupboard door getting dressed, then she does. She's accurate about 90% of the time.

Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!

I hold her, I sing Bob Marley songs to her, but nothing helps.

I'm not sure if she's mad that I'm leaving, or mad that I'm not taking her with me. I suspect she aspires to be the Dewey of my bookstore. A more aggressive version, taking swipes at booksellers if they're about to shelve the book in the wrong place. Attacking the children riding the plazmacars. Selling the discount card.

Oo what a pretty country I live in!

And I'm glad I've seen lots of it! Yellowknife, Vancouver, Nanaimo to Victoria (and all in between), Tofino, Penticton, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, the Gaspé, Ottawa, Toronto ...and towns there and about.

Rolf Hicker

REAL spring

Reader and Friend of the Blog "GMC" (alright... it's just my dad) writes that my spring counter is broken. This is because people foolishly use the Vernal Equinox as the beginning of spring. While this March in Quebec has been quite sunny and nice, it's usually just as crappy as February. So I set my spring countdown to the first of April. (An early April Fool's joke you might say. Ah ha ha ha.)

But we'll get a snowstorm fo shizzle in April. So really... spring starts After the Last Big Crappy Snowstorm.

A History of Me: In boots!

Fernando and I were shopping today, and we were talking about what I wanted for my birthday, when I spotted this from the corner of my eye, in the window of the home brew store:

When I was in grade 2 or 3, I think, our mother brought home 2 mugs just like this--one for me and for my brother. We loved them. We had a ritual every Friday night where we would watch The Dukes of Hazzard and have a bag of chips and a bottle of pop each, and this became The Favored Pop Mug. If you drank from it at the right angle, it splashed pop in your face... which was the whole fun, of course.

We are now the proud owner of two mug boots.

And the public offer is going out to Brother Pablo--if he wants one of the mugs, I'll give one to him. Otherwise, Fernando and I will sit on our little couch, with our little boots, and carry on the family tradition.

what to reeeeaaaad... the exciting conclusion!

Canada Reads is a "battle of the books" on CBC that started during my days at the bookstore, in 2002, but I've never set out to read one one of the winners.

This year Canada Reads came to a close at just the right time--when I'm cycling 'round to a Literary Mood. Because I was more interested in researching my writing, I didn't read a lot after finishing school last year. Only a couple months ago I got Back in the Mood, and I read:
- a serious mystery
- 2 romances
- 1 chick lit
- 1 *cozy* mystery
- 1 serious mystery

Which means now my mood is turning either to sci fi/fantasy, or literature. So I ordered me up a copy of the Canada Reads winner: The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (45% off at indigo.ca !) Incidentally, it has a different name in the US and some other countries, because the word "negro," which is sort of mildly distasteful in Canada, has much more pejorative connotations elsewhere, and they were afraid black readers would disdain to even pick the book up. The title comes from an historical document the author found, detailing the African-Americans allowed passage up to Nova Scotia in the 18th century.

I expect to get through a lot of reading this month, as I'll be cat-sitting for a friend, and therefore commuting longer.

My parents had to put down their very sick little lovebird today. :-(

The History of Me: In Prince

I'm listening to a Kanye West song. I like the line: "I've been on ya, since Prince been on Appolonia..."

One of the things I like about *being around* black artists (I mean, listening to, reading interviews etc.) is that they talk about Prince. Living in Canada I've only known one big Prince fan, in Cegep.

Then there was that annoying guy in sec V who suddenly discovered that Prince was a great musician, and tried to inform ME that Prince plays 27 instruments, arrogantly assuming I didn't have any appreciation for Prince as a musician... when I had just given an oral presentation on the Utopia theme in Prince songs. (Sometimes Boys think they know more about music than girls. Like cars and football, or something. Hmph!)

And then there's Kevin Smith--who I don't think is a Prince fan. I think he's a Purple Rain fan. (And so he would probably appreciate why I was so thrilled when someone--Pablo or Fernando?--bought me my own cone-puppet. "You don't need them. You don't need anyone. All you need is ME.")

So it's fun when I'm looking at some Prince thing on youtube and other people from the US (maybe it's not about skin color... maybe this is an American--Canadian thing) say Oh cool! I remember when this song was on the radio all the time! My sister and I used to play this every day!! about some Prince song that I never even heard released on radio.

Man. Where were these people when I was 15?? South of the border I guess.

Mind you... my other fave groups were Bruce Cockburn, Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac, which probably top a list somewhere of Music White People Like. (...Though Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back" is based on "Little Red Corvette" and Prince played the synths on it for her. AND Prince and Kate Bush have both played one song for each other, on each other's albums. ...Pretty sure there's no Prince-Cockburn connection, though. Well they're both top guitarists.)

what to reeeeaaaad...

I don't know what to read next. I read a couple romances, and just read a mystery. I've been in the mood to read the Canada Reads winner, The Book of Negroes, but I ordered it online and it hasn't arrived yet. (Hey, even the indigo.ca discounts are sometimes higher than my store discount! If you haven't heard of Canada Reads, see the end of the post.)

Hmm. I could keep on the mystery theme, and read the Murdoch mystery I bought awhile back.

Or go with the literary mood, and start something I have on hand, such as Pamuk's My Name is Red. I also ordered The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which has very high ratings, and takes place in a country I've never read about--the Dominican Republic.

Oh la oh la. I both love and hate that in-between moment of having to choose the next book!

*

Canada Reads celebrates five Canadian books for three months online, on the air and at public events. It all leads up to a week-long show hosted by Jian Ghomeshi. In this annual title fight, five celebrity panelists defend their favourite work of Canadian fiction. One by one, books are voted off the list, until one panelist triumphs with the book for Canada to read this year.

The History of me: In Cats & Blankets

Everyone knows the great Cat Love of my life was Ernie. My dad is getting all our old slides transferred to digital, and I've given him strict instructions to forward ALL ERNIE PICTURES.

He hasn't found them yet, but here's one of the tabbies who passed our way. (Lost cats I think?) First Mork, and later Rocky. Brother Pablo guesses this is the latter. KITTIES! I don't remember which one loved spaghetti.

I don't remember the book pictured here, but after googling, I think that fairy tale is "Pinkel the Thief." I do remember the jungle animal bed sheet, the Holly Hobby sheets, the flowered blanket, and the green blanket.

Greenie the Blanket: My mother took me to the store to pick out a blanket I was supposed to bring to day care or something, and this is the one I chose. I called it Greenie. Ernie loved to suck/knead Greenie, so I kept it until it was falling apart, and had a gigantic hole in the middle of it. Me, Ernie and Greenie: We were a trio. I'm pretty sure I kept it, since Ernie was put down. ...Must find out.

So as Pablo said when he saw the pic: Oo a photo of Young Greenie!

death!

I dreamt I died last night. I've dreamt of going over cliffs before, or being attacked, but I've never actually gotten to the death part. It was interesting. I'm sure it's because sometime that evening I read an article about how people interpret dreams, and did a little questionnaire on it. The questionnaire asked what you think dreams are--and I chose the option about dreams just being your brain sorting through a sensory mess of the day (something like that.)

And as though to prove it, here's a paragraph from the article:

These instinctive Freudians also considered dreams to be valuable omens, as demonstrated in a study asking them to imagine they were about to take a plane trip. If, on the eve of the flight, they dreamed of the plane’s crashing, they were more likely to cancel the trip than if they saw news of an actual plane crash on their route.

Well, I dreamed I died in a plane crash of course. I was dreaming about something else--a sort of American Idol with underwater aquatics, at which I was a spectator, and I was having a conversation with my friend's boyfriend about my motorbike [combination of story research, and an episode of Corner Gas I watched that night].

Then the dream shifted and I was sitting in the front row of an airplane, next to a guy I knew, but not well (don't know who it was.) The front of the airplane was wide windows--the view we would have if there wasn't a cockpit in the way. I was about to stand up and go to the bathroom when the seatbelt sign came on because of turbulence.

So I sat back down, and the pilot (??) came out of the cockpit to tell us not to worry, we were just going through some turbulence (duh.) Next thing I knew, we were flying low through the downtown of a city, almost at street level.

And I thought: Gee, must be some emergency landing. And then I thought: Gosh, there's no way this is going to end with us alive. This is it. This is how I die. (And someone behind me was saying "Oh my God" over and over.)

We were heading right towards a big bank-like building, at street level. There wasn't really time to be scared. I grabbed the hands of the guy next to me, cause it seemed like the proper etiquette in such a situation [must have read that in the Chesley crash articles]. I thought briefly about Fernando and my family, and how I was about to become one of Those People in News Stories.

The nose of the plane was reaching the doors of the building, and I closed my eyes, and waited for what I expected to be a very painful, but probably quick death. I was waiting for the feeling of smashing into stuff, and then fire.

And I was just starting to feel warm, when my body slowly awoke--I assume because my brain was incapable of imagining that sort of pain. I didn't awake with a start like they do on TV. I just felt this prickly wash of adrenaline taking over the from the feeling of heat, moving from my feet to my head. And then I was just lay there, thinking about the dream.

...If that was my body's way of telling me to wake up cause my bladder was full... it was pretty darn dramatic!

Oh baby I'm so sorry!

So... I've said before (one some blog of mine or another) that I'm tired of hearing Oprah on the subject of weight loss--I think she's got too much of an eating disorder to be telling other people what to do.

But I still have a lot of respect for her, and I love it when she does a show on something I think is important, because of the influence she has. For example, she's done some shows on puppy mills. Of course, I didn't watch them (I couldn't have), but I'm so glad she did them; and her latest dog is from a shelter, whereas her previous ones probably weren't.

These days she's doing lots of shows about saving money, cooking more meals, etc.

Tomorrow she's going to talk about the Chris Brown - Rihanna abuse story (see below for short summary of the charges). She's calling it a "teachable moment", and I agree that it is. Rihanna is one of the most popular entertainers right now, so you know there are some abused chicks out there who are fans of her, and are keeping an eye on this story. But apparently she and Brown are back together--which is not necessarily the wrong thing... but I would love it if they got some help, and went public with that. It's not their responsibility to do so, but it would be a cool thing. Especially since some Chris Brown fans have been blaming Rihanna, or people are saying Well she hit him too, or whatever. What-ev-ah.

I get the impression Oprah feels the same way, and that's why she's doing the show. I'm glad someone popular is taking this story and using it to talk about abuse.

*
From: Chicago Tribune

According to a detective's affidavit, Brown and Rihanna got into a fight early Feb. 8 after the "Umbrella" singer checked her boyfriend's cell phone and found a text message from another woman.

Brown pulled his car over and tried to push Rihanna out, but she was still wearing her seatbelt, Los Angeles police Detective De Shon Andrews wrote. He said Brown pushed Rihanna's head against the window, punched her with his right hand, and then continued driving while hitting her, the affidavit states. He also bit his girlfriend on the ear, the affidavit states.

The affidavit was filed as part of a search warrant request for the phone records of Brown, Rihanna and her assistant.

Brown allegedly threatened to kill Rihanna after she pretended to leave a phone message with her assistant, telling her to have the police waiting at her house.

Andrews described Brown's blows as causing Rihanna's mouth to fill with blood. He also writes that Brown tried to choke Rihanna after she took the keys to his car away. Andrews wrote that Rihanna nearly lost consciousness but also tried to fight back while in the car, at one point trying to gouge at Brown's eyes.

Story of Me: In Goals

I jut noticed that on March 30th last year I talked a couple mild goals I had, or things I'm doing that I didn't too much before. Let's see how I'm doin'...

Playing board games: I did borrow some from a friend who, with her boyfriend, reviews board games for the newspaper. But Fernando's been in a real Warcraft mood, so he's been resistant to any other form of amusement.

Cooking: I've managed to keep this up. Because I'm working more, I'm buying a little more processed food--things that take longer to make, or are harder to reproduce the flavor. But otherwise I seem to have integrated the cooking thing somewhat into my usual routines. So I don't see it as of much of a Big Deal.

Arabic: I haven't done anymore in the way of learning Arabic. It's a tough language, and I don't have any specific motivation, like a PhD or a trip. But I'll hold onto my books for awhile anyway.

Punctuality: I have cleaned up my act quite a bit. I've been getting out of the house on time in the "mornings," and I've learned to start putting my book away on the bus early enough to not be rushing off. Except when I get sucked in and don't notice it's my stop.

Sleep: My vow last year was to never get less than 5 hours (then eventually 7.) I haven't been able to keep it perfectly, but I've been much better. Just trying to avoid those 3 hour nights that I did so much when in school. It makes you so vulnerable to getting sick. So, I've definitely done a lot less of those 3 hour-ers. But when I work the occasional day shift, it still happens.

So I guess I have to set some new goals. I'll think about it... probably introduce some discipline into working on my books, since I'm working more. Gotta use the time Wisely.

And now, par rapport à nothing: lolcats

The Story of Me: In Jobs!

The New York Times posted a story about the difficulty of PhD students in Humanities finding jobs. So I'm not going to take it too personally if I can't get a job teaching Cegep. I'm up against anyone who's applying for those jobs, who already has a PhD--and there may be more of them, if they're not getting jobs at the University level. And with the economic situation, there may be a lot of teachers putting off retirement, so maybe we won't get that "retirement boom" we were expecting.

But... I'll always have my writing, which keeps me feeling like I'm doing something personally satisfying. And I haven't any post-school debt, which definitely makes life easier. And I still have the job I had when I went back to school, and I still enjoy it. So... so far so good.

There was a recent story in Publisher's Weekly about Borders and Waldenbooks laying off a bunch of workers, and that's all at the management level (in-store management, like myself.) But from all I've read in the Borders complaint discussion boards, it's a poorly run company that many employees already felt was on the verge of going out of business. I won't be surprised if they fold. A lot of the things my company did--increasing sales of non-book product, investing in newer technologies--were very foreward thinking. Plus they've paid off the interest on their loans, and only have the capitol to pay off. I'm Barnes and Noble is also in a relatively strong position.

It's coooomiiiiiing...

Sailing down the road on your bike, conversation drowned out by returning geese, throwing open the door and letting the sun and wind into your home, the return of the sound of rushing water (sounding like a 1000 old ladies!), it no longer taking five minutes to get on your "tons of clothes," and feeling so different that "in winter you must have been barely alive." Siberry perfectly describes how I feel each spring. The only thing missing in this song is the feeling of wearing lightweight shoes out on the street, in place of your heavy winter boots.

You have to live in a frigid, wintery clime to understand what it means for spring to return. We're not quite there yet, but on Sunday we got a little taste, with sunny skies and above 0 temps. And when I was serving people at cash, they were all cheerful, just like Jane Siberry sings: "People are like flowers: They blossom in the sun."

My family out west gets to laugh at me now that I'm the only one living in the extreme climate of Montreal, but I tell you... if happiness relates to an experience being relatively rare, not being a constant in your life... then I'll be a whole hell lot happier than them come April! Yippy!!

And so, in anticipation of that great event: Jane Sibery's "When Spring Comes." Posted by me, because someone had to do it. laaa laa la la la la la laaaa

En attendant le spring!

Like a cattle car in 1940s Germany

This comedian is sometimes funny, sometimes meh--but this is a funny shtick about modern technology. I especially agree with his comments re. airline travel.

The Story of Me: In Pics

My brother and I (I'm the one with the little deer shirt!) with our grandfather. This is my mother's dad, who was an English Lit prof, and gave me my first introduction to Shakespeare, Chaucer, Shaw and Wilde.

29.7 % Modern Yuppy

I've only recently finally taken a look at the blog: The Stuff White People Like. It's pretty funny.

"The name is sometimes controversial for suggesting racial stereotyping, although the blog is not about the interests of all white people, but rather a stereotype of affluent, environmentally conscious, anti-corporate white North American hipsters, typically holding a degree in the liberal arts.^[6] Lander claims to be satirizing contemporary versions of yuppie culture.^[6]"
(wiki description)

The full list is here... let's see how Modern Yuppy I am. I started from the bottom, and put an arrow next to the Ways I Am White, and an X next to the ones I am definitely not. Actually, this web site is a good description of downtowner-snobbery. The kind of people who call the West Island "Waste Island" and consider themselves superior to all those horrid suburban families. It's an attitude I dislike, though I'm more tolerant when it comes from a 20 year old than a 30 year old.

[I wondered why we sold these at work.] * #122 Moleskine Notebooks

* #121 Funny or Ironic Tattoos

* #120 Taking a Year Off

* #119 Sea Salt

* #118 Ugly Sweater Parties

* #117 Political Prisoners

* #116 Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore

-> Well... I blame that on the possibility of doing a PhD. ...Though maybe that's on the list too.

* #115 Promising to Learn a New Language

* #114 America

* #113 Halloween

-> Vegan. It's a staple. * #112 Hummus

* #111 Pea Coats

* #110 Frisbee Sports

* #109 The Onion

X I enjoy CM. But I don't try to Appear so. ;-) * #108 Appearing to Enjoy Classical Music

-> Funny one. I linked it for you. * #107 Self Aware Hip Hop References

-> * #106 Facebook

* #105 Unpaid Internships

-> Am one? * #104 Girls with Bangs

-> Come on, I live in Canada! * #103 Sweaters

X OUT. * #102 Children’s Games as Adults

X Out. * #101 Being Offended

* #100 Bumper Stickers

-> * #99 Grammar

* #98 The Ivy League

-> * #97 Scarves

* #96 New Balance Shoes

* #95 Rugby

-> * #94 Free Healthcare

* #93 Music Piracy

-> Well yes hello. * #92 Book Deals

-> Ha ha ha haaaaa. * #91 San Francisco

X Not when you have a cat who might pee on your guests. * #90 Dinner Parties

* #89 St. Patrick’s Day

-> ...Well I don't go looking for them! * #88 Having Gay Friends

X Okay I have a Northface jacket, but that was cold desperation, not pretension! * #87 Outdoor
Performance Clothes

* #86 Shorts

* #85 The Wire

* #84 T-Shirts

-> * #83 Bad Memories of High School

X Out. * #82 Hating Corporations

-> * #81 Graduate School

* #80 The Idea of Soccer

* #79 Modern Furniture

-> Yes if I had kids. But I do live in Quebec. * #78 Multilingual Children

-> * #77 Musical Comedy

X I hate drinking. * #76 Bottles of Water

* #75 Threatening to Move to Canada

* #74 Oscar Parties

* #73 Gentrification

* #72 Study Abroad

X Suburbs. * #71 Being the only white person around

* #70 Difficult Breakups

-> I could be. * #69 Mos Def

* #68 Michel Gondry

X Out! * #67 Standing Still at Concerts

X Out! (for me anyway) * #66 Divorce

X Sports. That's a dirty word in my world. * #65 Co-Ed Sports

-> * #64 Recycling

* #63 Expensive Sandwiches

X Not after taking Poli classes. * #62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People

-> * #61 Bicycles

* #60 Toyota Prius

X Out. * #59 Natural Medicine

* #58 Japan

* #57 Juno

* #56 Lawyers

-> * #55 Apologies

-> The hand blender is a New Classic. * #54 Kitchen Gadgets

-> :-) * #53 Dogs

X Can't stand her. * #52 Sarah Silverman

X Too poor. * #51 Living by the Water

-> ?I guess. * #50 Irony

X Too lazy to go downtown to shop. * #49 Vintage

* #48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops

-> * #47 Arts Degrees

* #46 The Sunday New York Times

* #45 Asian Fusion Food

* #44 Public Radio

-> (Read, not watched.) * #43 Plays

* #42 Sushi

* #41 Indie Music

-> * #40 Apple Products

* #39 Netflix

* #38 Arrested Development

* #37 Renovations

X No. (See: Being vegan.) * #36 Breakfast Places

-> * #35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report

-> I could go there. * #34 Architecture

* #33 Marijuana

-> Guilty as charged. * #32 Vegan/Vegetarianism

* #31 Snowboarding

* #30 Wrigley Field

* #29 80s Night

X Ha ha. Hellz no. * #28 Not having a TV

* #27 Marathons

* #26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)

-> Bought a book, but haven't read yet. * #25 David Sedaris

* #24 Wine

* #23 Microbreweries

* #22 Having Two Last Names

* #21 Writers Workshops

X Enough Poli Sci will kick that one out of you. * #20 Being an expert on YOUR culture

-> * #19 Traveling

-> Without reading the details: Probably. * #18 Awareness

X Alas no. * #17 Hating their Parents

* #16 Gifted Children

* #15 Yoga

* #14 Having Black Friends

-> Especially purchased at 75% off, and then my 30% employee discount on top! So I have real
snotty teas. * #13 Tea

* #12 Non-Profit Organizations

(??wtf?) * #11 Asian Girls

* #10 Wes Anderson Movies

X DEFINITELY NOT!! #9 Making you feel bad about not going outside

* #8 Barack Obama

-> Of course! * #7 Diversity

-> A little. * #6 Organic Food

-> Would be, if I had one handy. * #5 Farmer’s Markets

* #4 Assists

* #3 Film Festivals

* #2 Religions their parents don’t belong to

* #1 Coffee

and also, quizzes about your cats

Will Smith

Leading Man

A fresh prince in the pursuit of happiness, Tigernan is megastar Will Smith!

Putting the jazz back in jazzy, Tigernan is always moving and grooving to the beat of his own internal drum. Not one to settle for second best, Tigernan only takes on projects that are sure to draw attention and improve his pawpularity in the pack. Tigernan's broad appeal across breed, age and gender lines means that his actions often lead to his being named best in show. Smooth, suave and debonair... he's the perfect pet to take home to Mommy. Not lacking in the looks department, Tigernan‘s toothy grin would send even the most furrocious group of alien invaders spinning helplessly back into space.

Mr. Hunky

Sherringham is none other than superhunk George Clooney!

Turning heads everywhere he rolls, Sherringham is a huge hit with both googly-eyed babes and older, wiser fans. Admirers will paddle across no less than eleven oceans just to get a glimpse of this A-List heartthrob in the fur. Sherringham isn't in a big rush to settle down, so is often seen out on the town with the cutest members of the pack. Not just a looker, Sherringham's activism knows no limits—enerpetically involved in the campaign to save Dogfur, Sherringham is always looking for a worthy cause that he can sink his teeth into

American Queen

Come on, let's just face it: We are living in a material world, and Haley is a material girl. So go ahead and thank your lucky stars—Haley is the one and only Madonna!

Always desperately seeking attention, Haley is multi-talented and savvy, not afraid to get her paws dirty and experiment with new methods of getting into the groove in order to reach her peeps. She commands respect everywhere she goes, a sophisticated traveler who insists upon the best—and more often than not, she gets what she wants. Appearance is everything for your true-blue diva and while her look may change as often as the Pellegrino in her water bowl does, her commitment to exercise is unwavering. Haley's in tip-top shape, which makes her age in pet years a non-issue. Despite the hard fur and the no-nonsense approach, she's a softy when it comes to her devoted owner. It's fair to say that Haley is, yes, crazy for you.

the secret of menz

Comedian Steve Harvey has a book out about men (for women), and it's in high demand right now. Here are some bits I like (lifted from the Oprah site.)

*

When a man approaches a woman, Steve says, he already knows what we wants from her, but he doesn't know what it will cost. "How much time do you want from me? What your standards? What are your requirements? Because we'll rise to the occasion no matter how high you set the bar if we want to," he says. "The problem is, women have stopped setting the bar high."

...

Without ironclad standards, Steve says you'll always end up back in the dating pool. "You've got to quit lowering your standards," he says. "Set your requirements up front so when a guy hooks you, he has to know this is business."

...

[On the topic of waiting 90 days before having sex--just like the 90 day probation period of a job.]
So what if you don't want to wait 90 days? Steve says if you change the probation period, you do so at your own risk. "You all keep changing the rules. And men are aware of the fact that you are changing the rules. We're aware of the fact that you act desperate. We're aware of the fact that you think there's a good shortage of good men out there," he says.

"We play on all of that. … We created the term 'gold digger' so you won't ask us for nothing. We created the term 'nagging' so you can quit badgering us. These are terms that we created so you can require less of us."